The Internet was all abuzz on Thursday (Dec. 16) when rumor got
around that Yahoo would be shutting down its popular social bookmarking
service Delicious.

Delicious – which launched in 2003 as "del.icio.us" and was acquired
by Yahoo in 2005 – allows users to tag, save and manage their bookmarks
online and to share and discover booksmarks with other users.

But then in a plot twist today, Delicious said via a blog post that
it is, in fact, not closing and is actually just up for sale.

"No, we are not shutting down Delicious," the message said. "While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!,
we believe there is an ideal home for Delicious outside of the company
where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive."

The company also apologized to its members for being exposed to media stories that have little answer to what would happen to the fate of the site:

"We're genuinely sorry to have these stories appear with so little
context for our loyal users. While we can't answer each of your
questions individually, we wanted to address what we can at this stage
and we promise to keep you posted as future plans get finalized."

The news first broke that Yahoo would be "sunsetting" – or shutting down – the site when a former Yahoo employee leaked a list of products that it planned to shutter, and Delicious was on the list.

"We can only imagine how upsetting the news coverage over the past 24
hours has been to many of you. Speaking for our team, we were very
disappointed by the way that this appeared in the press."

Delicious says it is currently exploring many options to keep the site up and running.

"We're actively thinking about the future of Delicious and we believe
there is a home outside the company that would make more sense for the
service and our users," the site said. "We're in the process of
exploring a variety of options and talking to companies right now. And
we’ll share our plans with you as soon as we can."

As for users wanting to switch to alternative social bookmarking
sites to play it safe, Delicious said "there's no reason to panic."

"We are maintaining Delicious and encourage you to keep using it. That said, we have export options if you so choose."